The purpose of this case study was to discover the effects of the non -structured art therapy by water color painting on the disabled children’s self- expression : art self expression and communicational self-expression.
This study had been practiced in a rehabilitation clinic for six months. This study consists of 24 sessions with each session being allocated 40 minutes.
For this study, two children were involved. Two children were diagnosed as the disabled children by Diagnostic and Statistical M anual of M ental Disorders- N (DSM-N, 1994).
Subject one is mild mental retardation(female, CA -7 : 9, IQ-65, SA-7.33, LA-5 : 11) and subject
two is developmental disorder(male, CA-5 : 10, IQ - 1 00.5, SA - 6 : 13, LA-3 : 11)
The instruments o f measurement used in this study were art self-expression ability assessment, Kinetic House Tree Person(KHTP) Test and communicational self-expression ability assessment.
Art self-expression ability assessment can be analyzed twelve water colors and came into
use qualitative analysis between pre-test and post-test. KHTP Test was used for four step’s
qualitative analysis of two children\'s art expressio n development(Lowenfeld. Voktor, 1987).
Communicational self-expression ability assessment was used to measure two disabled children’s pragmatics according to this study progress.
The results obtained from this study are following
Firstly, the non-structured art therapy by water color painting made gradual progress on
the disabled children’s self-expression changes. Two children experienced art therapeutic
courses by water color painting precursory activities, chaotic discharge, art in the service of
defense, pictographs, formed expression(Kramer, 1971). It meaned that art therapy by water
color painting could give clients art self-expression changes and communicational self-expression changes.
Secondly, the non-structured art therapy by water color painting had positive effects on the
disabled children’s art self-expression. Two disabled children developed art self-expression ability(theme expression, color, form, the composition of a picture, creativity) by water color
painting and became comfortable state. Furthermore, it incre ase d their auto no my from psycho -social development
Thirdly, the no n- structure d art therapy by water color painting had positive effects on
the disabled children’s communicational self-expression. This advantage could extend the disabled children’s communicational opportunities. In order words, the disabled children’s sociality can be developed by the non-structured art therapy by water color painting.
Key Words : Water Color Printing, Self-Expression, The Non-structured Art Therapy